Sweden v England: Roy Hodgson warns Wilfried Zaha and Raheem Sterling they must commit to national team

Roy Hodgson has received assurances from Wilfried Zaha, Raheem Sterling and
Carl Jenkinson that they are committed to playing for England but the
manager has warned his dual-nationality players there can be no second
thoughts about representing the national team.

Decision: Wilfried Zaha has been courted by England and Ivory CoastPhoto: ACTION IMAGES

All three players have dual nationality and will remain free to represent the land of their parents' birth even if, like Liverpool winger Sterling, who will start, they feature in the friendly against Sweden on Wednesday night.

Crystal Palace prodigy Zaha has admitted to being torn between England and Ivory Coast, with Didier Drogba urging him to play for the country of his birth. Sterling was born in Jamaica and Arsenal full-back Jenkinson has played for Finland Under-21s and needs Fifa clearance, expected today, to feature.

Hodgson, however, made it clear that he expected all three, particularly Sterling and Zaha, who have played at age-group level for England, to remain committed to England.

"I have spoken to Sterling and Zaha. Both have assured me that they have started with England and that's where they want to end up," he said.

"It's very simple for me. England is very important. To be asked to play for England is a major honour. I am not interested in people who are deciding whether England is where they want to be or whether they want to be somewhere else.

"When people are called up I expect them to come running, get on a bicycle and cycle to the training session if they have to, then they shake hands with everyone and tell everyone how happy they are to be there. For the players who have spent the best part of their lives in England, like Sterling and Zaha, if the whole of their education and football education has been in England, it seems to me fairly obvious that if they got the chance to play for the national team [they should take it]."

Hodgson said he had discussed the issue directly with Zaha, whose much-hyped elevation to the squad has heightened interest in the occasion and, in media terms, partially eclipsed Sterling's first start and Jack Wilshere's return to national duty.

"My conversation with him was to make it clear that I am inviting you because I expect you to be an England player, and if you don't want to be an England player and you are not sure, then you are better off telling me and I will pick someone else. We have chosen you because we think you are a good one."

Hodgson arrived in Sweden having absorbed interviews given by Zaha before his call-up in which he spoke with the bullet-proof confidence of youth, naming full-backs he had exposed and saying he would only be intimidated by "Messi and Ronaldo".

Hodgson has had two limited training sessions to go on, but said his impression was of a down-to-earth individual. "I feel sorry for the lad at the moment, he strikes me as being a very quiet, modest lad, but if I read the headlines today he seems like a very arrogant young man."

The England manager's selection of three players with international options reflects the Football Association's eagerness to tie down players who might otherwise slip through the net, such as Chelsea's Victor Moses who has now committed to Nigeria.

This does not make England the new equivalent of Jack Charlton’s Ireland, trawling for grandmothers, but it does reflect the scarcity of emerging talent.

The manager said it was an inevitable consequence of immigration. “I think we are throwing up talent and a lot of them are players with dual nationalities because their parents come from a different country.

“But there are enough players in the country. Someone told me today there have been 48 players in the squads I have chosen so far. If I can’t get 11 players out of 48 that is a pretty sad state of affairs.”